People

Michelle Ahlmer, executive director of the Arizona Retailers Association, discusses the hard work that resulted in Arizona sales tax fairness legislation making significant progress this year, as well as the prospects for next year.

This week, ABA presidential candidate Becky Anderson and vice presidential candidate Steve Bercu talk about the challenges facing independent bookstores and ABA’s role in helping members meet those challenges head-on.

Christopher J. Zane, a nationally noted entrepreneur and speaker, will be the opening plenary speaker at ABA’s Day of Education, on Monday, May 23, at BEA. The event is open to all BEA badged attendees.

BTW talks to this year’s three director candidates for the ABA Board –  John Evans, Matt Norcross, and Ken White – about the challenges facing independent bookstores and ABA’s role in helping members meet those challenges head-on.

Bestselling and award-winning author Margaret Atwood will be a featured plenary speaker at ABA’s Day of Education, on Monday, May 23, at BEA. The hour-long event will be open to all BEA badged attendees.

Former ABA President Russ Lawrence, who sold his interest in Montana’s Chapter One Book Store and, along with his wife, Jean, joined the Peace Corps in 2009, checks in from the town of Chivay in Peru, where, among other things, they’re busy developing a “local-first”-style campaign.

Richard Howorth, co-owner of Square Books, in Oxford, Mississippi, recently gave a presentation to Italian booksellers as part of the Scuola per Librai (School for Booksellers), which convenes every year in Venice.

Anderson’s Books, a fifth-generation family business co-owned by ABA Vice President Becky Anderson, has been named PW Bookseller of the Year. PW’s Rep of the Year is John Eklund.

Warren Cassell, the former owner of Just Books in Greenwich, Connecticut, died on Friday, February 25. He was 80 years old.

Richard Daley, co-owner and manager of Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, Mississippi, died on February 3, 2011.